


Paint your bluest skies

by Bluejay720



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Human, F/F, First Meetings, Fluff, Hopes a creep, Josies into it, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-04
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-17 05:01:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29836401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluejay720/pseuds/Bluejay720
Summary: What a beautiful name, Hopes muses. She wonders if she'd be able to talk to her today. Maybe she can build enough courage to actually walk up to her and form a sentence.Probably not, but it’s nice to have dreams.She sighs deeply and contemplates her life choices while she stares into the charcoal eyes of her drawing.The chiming of the bell rings through the shop again and, like Pavlov's dogs, Hope's head jerks up to see a certain brunette walk through the door. To see Josie walk through the door.ORCoffee shop Au!!!!
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman
Comments: 14
Kudos: 161
Collections: its hosie





	Paint your bluest skies

**Author's Note:**

> Hey again!! Here's a coffee shop au that this fandom deserves! We needed more au's like this, 
> 
> I have had this half finished in my drafts since literally october, and you totally have pattysmess1 for this because she gave me direction and feedback, I honestly don't know if this would have ever been finished had she not helped. She has an amazing fic that you should go read, it's a hosie Hollywood au!
> 
> Anyway! I hope you enjoy 💙

Hope wasn't stalking this girl.

She wasn't!

If Hope continued to come to the same coffee shop at the same time as the most beautiful girl Hope had ever seen for the last month or so, that was entirely a coincidence.

It started what seemed like a lifetime ago, but was only a few weeks. Hope’s an artist and used people for inspiration. Most of the time, she’d see someone and knew she had to sketch them.

She’d do detailed portraits of people or landscapes or whatever else customers wanted, and Hope got to do what she loved every day. She rented a studio/loft that she lived in for most of the year.

She’d woken up fairly early that day, not having slept very well. Hope had always had seemingly boundless energy, needing to expend it in some way. Usually painting and sketching helped, but on this particular day she just couldn't deal with the restlessness.

The past few weeks, she hadn't been able to feel satisfied when she did her paintings; even having professional models come to paint didn't help with her creativity.

That day had felt different though. Like her body knew something was going to happen, and that's why she was restless. She decided a change of scenery was what she needed and went to a nearby coffee shop. When she arrived, she didn't see anyone and sat in a small booth near the back after getting her black coffee.

She started to sketch a few random ideas when she heard the doorbell chime. Not really caring much, she continued with her drawing. When she did look up, it was because the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen was sitting down at a table close by.

Hope has felt her jaw literally drop open at the sight of the tall brunette, her fingers itching to start drawing. The girl wasn’t facing towards her in the booth and pulled out a laptop to work on something. A Mystic Falls University sweatshirt, usually baggy and generic, make her look like a damn model, except soft and angelic rather than sharp-edged and angelic.

As the girl settled down to work on whatever it is she’s doing and sip her coffee, Hope frantically starts to sketch every detail she could see, her whole body alight in a way she's all too familiar with. When her creativity is sparked, her body needs to get out of every possible thing.

She really did try not to stare like a creep, but after a while of stealing small glances, Hope practically committed the other girl to memory.

After an hour of working on a detailed sketch, Hope looked up again for the first time in what felt like few minutes. The girl was packing up her things and appeared to be about to leave.

Disappointment flooded Hope as she watched the girl pack up. She wanted to go over and talk to her, ask for her name and if she would be her muse. But this was reality, and she really was trying hard to not seem too much like a creep.

Hope waited for a few moments, staring at the spot the girl was just sitting before looking down at her sketch.  It was so clear, as if the girl was still there working at her booth. Hope, feeling her creativity glowing for the first time in weeks, began to pack her things, intending to go straight to the art studio.

She worked for hours that day, making progress on painting after painting; finishing some she had been working on and starting new ones.

It became a routine after that.

Hope would go to the coffee shop early every morning in hopes of seeing the other girl.

She became sorta friends with the barista, finding out his name was Rafael and that he was a student at Mystic Falls U too.

She tried to keep her hopes low enough to not get disappointed every time the girl doesn't show up.

After working for around an hour, she sees the brunette beauty come in again. Hope has to stop herself from smiling wide at seeing the other girl like they’re actually friends.

Hope looks down at her sketch paper and starts to draw again for a little bit before looking up again, catching the other girl's eyes on her, red tints on her cheeks. Trying to appear as if she wasn't staring, Hope shoots a small smile towards the girl. The brunette blushes and smiles back before looking away.

It continues like that for an hour. Hope sneaks glances at the girl, delighting in capturing every detail she can see. She caught the other girl staring back a few times too. 

After being caught more than a few times herself, she gave up the pretense that she was looking anywhere else.

When the brunette girl was about to leave, Hope got the urge to go over and talk to her again. Fear crept up in the back of her mind at a possible rejection and, as the various scenarios played through her head, she just decided not to even get up out of her seat.

The other girl packs her things away and starts to walk towards the door, stopping with her hand on the handle. She looks at Hope for a moment, biting her lip, seeming to think for a few seconds, before she looks away and walks out the door.

~~~~~~~~~~

Hope comes back the next day.

And then the day after.

This continued for a couple of weeks.

Rafael, having seen her every day for almost a month, can make small talk with her. He knows that she's an artist. She finds out that Rafael is friends with the brunette who’s filled all of Hope's thoughts since she laid eyes on her. Trying to act nonchalant about it, she asks about the other girl, Rafael giving her a superior look but tells her what she wants to know.

That’s how Hope finds out her name is Josie. Well, Josette, but she goes by Josie.

A wave of warmth flows through her at finding out the girl's name and she wishes she knew more. But she can’t ever seem to work up the courage to talk to Josie.

She just sits down in what she has referred to as “her booth” in her mind, claiming it with all her coffee and papers.

As she sits down in her seat, she begins to pull out her pencil and her most recent drawing of  _ Josette. _

_ What a beautiful name,  _ Hopes muses. She wonders if she'd be able to talk to her today. Maybe she can build enough courage to actually walk up to her and form a sentence.

Probably not, but it’s nice to have dreams.

She sighs deeply and contemplates her life choices while she stares into the charcoal eyes of her drawing.

The chiming of the bell rings through the shop again and, like Pavlov's dogs, Hope's head jerks up to see a certain brunette walk through the door. To see  _ Josie  _ walk through the door.

Her breath momentarily short-circuits when she actually catches Josie's eye for a second. She looks down at her sketchpad and realizes, suddenly, that it's almost laying in plain sight of the entire room. She quickly moves it so the image of Josie is pressed against her chest.

Hope doesn't know what she’d do if Josie found out she’s been sketching her. Guilt settles in her stomach at the thought. She always asks for permission to use someone as a model, but the mere thought of just talking to Josie nearly sends her into a panic attack.

She blinks and realizes that she’s been openly staring at Josie the whole time she’d been getting her coffee and sitting down at her usual spot. She flicks her gaze down, a blush on her cheeks at having acted like such a creep already.

She takes out sketches that she’s already finished and some she’s still working on. Over the past few weeks, she’d created a collection of drawings all of Josie. Some were full body, half cut, head shots.

They all held those deep golden eyes and full pouty lips. Hope got lost again; her heart beating faster and faster.

_ Fuck. She needs to stop. _

A pretty girl should not make her react like this. This isn’t the first time she’s had a crush, dammit!

She stands up sort of abruptly enough that the few people in the coffee shop look in her direction—one of those being Josie.

She blushes and looks down at the ground before walking through the shop and towards the bathroom.

Once inside, she locks the door and moves over to the sink, splashing water on her face.

"Get it together, Mikaelson.” Hope said, looking her reflection dead in the eye. “You are not going to gay panic in public and ruin your chances with this girl, you hear me?"

She pulls the full Mikaelson glare on herself, one so powerful that could make grown men cry.

"You are going to march right out there and talk to her."

She puffs out her chest as she stands up as tall as her 5'3" self allows, hoping it’ll bring her a little courage.

It doesn't.

She deflates a little and her shoulders sag. Shaking her head at the failed pep talk, she exits the bathroom after washing her hands. Once she's close to her seat, another figure steps into the coffee shop, causing a sharp wind to blow through the shop.

Now, generally, if this were to happen, Hope would be far enough that she would only feel a slight chill. But this particular wind seemed to have it in for her and wanted to ruin her life.

Before she could get to her table, the wind came through and scattered her papers all over the floor—all her drawings of Josie clearly visible.

As fast as she can, Hope begins to pick up the pages before a single soul could see them. She only has a few left with her pick up speed, and feels a glimmer of hope that she might just get them picked up and no one would see.

It’s a short-lived feeling, as another person drops down to help her pick up her papers.

Hope looks up as she reaches for the last page just as the other person does, fingers brushed and eyes meeting over the paper.

Her heart stops as she stares into the eyes she's dreamt about the past few weeks. The girl who hasn't left her mind for weeks.

Josie is holding a few of her sketches in her arms and hands all but one back to her. The one she holds is the drawing Hope had finished the day before in her studio. It was one of the most detailed pieces she's ever done in charcoal, filled with deep contrast and shading that left no doubt on who the person was.

As Josie goes to hand the sketch back to Hope, she hears the other girl's intake of breath when she sees exactly what’s on the page. Hope closes her eyes both in embarrassment and at hearing the gasp leave Josie's mouth as a certain part of her brain records the sound for  _ later _ .

When Hope opens her eyes, Josie isn't looking at her but staring at the drawing still in her hand.

"Beautiful."

Hope's eyes widen, "What?"

"You're beautiful." Now Josie's eyes widen, and her head snaps up as she starts babbling. "I- I mean, the drawing… it's beautiful."

Her eyes fall back to the sketch as a lovely red blush darkens her cheeks. Seeing the color has Hope itching for her pencil and paints, wanting to draw the color as well as kiss the red spots to see if they’ll get darker.

This is the closest she's ever been to Josie, and she can now see the little colored flecks in her eyes.

While Hope had been strangely calm the past few minutes, reality catches up to her. The girl she’d been drawing for weeks without permission is looking at a drawing of her…

"I'm so sorry!" Apologies are tumbling out of her mouth before she even realizes what she's doing. Apologies and excuses. "It's an assignment I have for one of my classes. I'm supposed to draw random people with sketches and turn them in for class."

_ Fuck. That's not what I meant to say. _

Rather than coming clean, a lie comes out. Hope turns her eyes to the floor, waiting for rejection or anger. 

"I'm sorry, I should have asked before drawing you…"

She trails off and keeps her eyes pointed towards the ground. Until Josie steps forward, so they're even closer, placing a delicate hand on Hope's arm.

"It's okay, I really don't mind. This is really amazing." Josie looks, wide-eyed, at the drawing before looking back up at Hope. “beautiful…" Josie starts to say.

Hope is beyond surprised she wasn't met with an angered response but rather a sweet and gentle squeeze of her arm. Josie pulls away and continues to look at the drawing

"You're beautiful." Hope couldn't stop the words from spilling past her lips and immediately turns even redder than before. Josie's eyes widen, and she looks at Hope, a smile on her lips as her cheeks tint red.

"You should keep it.” Hope said quickly. “As an apology for drawing you without your permission."

Josie smiles wide at Hope's offer before she looks confused. "But wait, what about your class?"

Hope freezes, having forgotten the lie she had told earlier. "I-it's okay… I… have others." 

She says the last two words as fast as she can, hoping Josie wouldn't hear. Red flushes her cheeks again, and embarrassment sits heavily in her stomach.

Josie smiles wider and bites her bottom lip, an image that Hope already knows will haunt her dreams and makes her want to draw all over again.

"Thank you…?" Josie trails off in question as she looks at Hope.

"Oh! I'm Hope, Hope Mikaelson." She tries for what’s supposed to be a charming half-grin, which she’s sure comes out like Puss trying to be cute in Donkey’s body, but Josie’s eyes get really big and she twitches in what might,  _ might _ be a swoon.

"I'm Josie. Josie Saltzman."

Hope smiles wide at that as she looks at the girl with such a cute name with nothing short of adoration.

"Maybe I'll see you around sometime?" Josie bites her lip again as she asks, causing Hope to momentarily forget what she was doing.

"Yes! I'd love to." Hope’s eyes widen as she realizes how she sounded. "I mean, I'd like to… that would be great… I'm just gonna go."

She waves goodbye as she backs up with the loose-leaf papers still clutched tightly together. Josie does finger guns at her with her free hand that isn't holding the drawing. She looks so adorably dorky that it causes Hope to smile even more as she finishes gathering her things before leaving the coffee shop. Red still tinges her cheeks, but she's beyond happy.

\---

The next few days, Josie isn't at the coffee shop.

On the first day, Hope doesn't worry. She's disappointed but not worrying.

The second day, she begins to worry but not a lot. Still disappointed.

On the third day, Hope worries that Josie is avoiding her. She should have known better than to get her hopes up. She hates that she may have scared off the girl and curses herself for this whole mess. If she’d just asked Josie for her number like a normal person and asked if she would voluntarily model for Hope rather than draw her from a distance like a creep, she might still be able to see Josie now.

A week passes much the same, Hope going to the coffee shop, staying for a few hours, and sadly walking to her studio with her head down, Josie nowhere in sight.

Hope sighs as she picks up her stuff. Rafael keeps sending her piteous looks and it's not helping her already frayed creativity. She decides to just leave for the night and head to her studio. Maybe she’ll actually get some work done there instead of this coffee shop.

It doesn't take her long to get home and she begins to paint, her worries falling off her shoulders and stress seeping away.

Hours pass as she works on her current project, which she has been struggling with for weeks now. Since Hope had first seen Josie in the coffee shop she had wanted to paint a portrait of her but had struggled with it—she could never get the eyes just right.

Hope had only seen the other girls' eyes for a short time; their conversation was the first time she’d clearly seen the beautiful brown eyes that had haunted her dreams. Now the portrait was nearly perfect and a deep sense of accomplishment was settling into place.

She sighs and wipes her brow with the back of her hand, probably smearing paint on her face while she’s at it. It didn't matter; no one would see her anyway.

Hope decides to take off her shirt to cope with the strangely hot room and continues working on another painting for a couple more hours. She gets lost in herself and just lets herself get lost in the magic of painting.

Until Hope’s snapped back to her senses. She rubs her eyes and looks at the clock for the first time in hours. It's almost seven, meaning she's been working for eight hours. A little voice in the back of her head that sounds eerily like her aunt Freya says she really needs to watch how long she stays in her studio painting. The soreness in her back agrees with the sentiment and her stomach growls in hunger as well.

_ I really have to start taking care of myself. _

Even as she thinks it, Hope knows she probably won’t and a loud groan leaves her mouth as she stretches her arms over her head. As she finishes, she looks around for the shirt she’d haphazardly thrown somewhere earlier.

"Wow, you're amazing."

Hope near about has a heart attack at the sound of another person’s voice. When her eyes land on the brunette goddess standing in the door of her studio, she just stares as a dopey grin spreads across her face.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Hope would genuinely like to know the answer to that; not only is the girl that has literally been on her mind for weeks suddenly in front of her, she's walking closer.

_ I really should have eaten something today. I think the delirium is kicking in… Am I hallucinating? _

She shakes her head quickly, trying to sort the reality from hunger vision. The Josie-shaped hallucination is now only a few feet in front of her, a smile tugging at her lips.

"You lied to me," Josie says it evenly with not a hint of anger as she looks Hope in the eye.

Hope can feel her heart stop as she watches Josie with a wide-eyed gaze, unsure how to act.

"You already graduated with your Bachelor's two years ago, Hope Mikaelson." Josie seems awfully smug for someone calling someone out for lying, seeming to enjoy Hope’s expression.

"I- what?"

Josie smirks even more as she takes a step closer. "You gave me your name, remember? I looked you up. You told me you drew me for a class."

Hope swallows hard as a nervous laugh makes its way out of her mouth. She places her arms crossed on her stomach which, she suddenly remembers, was still covered in nothing but a stained sports bra and flecks of paint.

Josie's eyes seem to follow the action and her eyes widen, seeming to notice Hope isn't wearing a shirt for the first time. The brunette's mouth drops open. Hope pulls her arms away from her stomach and flexes her abs, keeping them taught as she enjoys Josie’s gaze.

“Stop trying to distract me.” Josie looks back up and has a furrowed brow with a pout on her lips. It’s the first time Josie’s looked angry and Hope can’t help but find it adorable. She lifts one hand behind her neck and leans back slightly, stretching her abs so they are even more on display.

“I don’t know what you're talking about.” Hope flexes again and stifles a laugh at the struggle Josie makes with keeping her eyes on Hope’s face before dropping down to her stomach.

Josie steps forward so she’s standing even closer and places her hand on Hope’s hardened abs. The contact completely catches Hope off guard as does seeing Josie so close to her. Personal space be damned, she could get used to this.

“I’m sorry about lying to you.” Hope trails off, unsure what to say. She bites her lip and looks away from Josie as she does. The brunette steps even closer while raising a hand up to Hope’s cheek and turns her so she’s looking back into Josie’s eyes.

“Why did you?” Josie’s tone holds no judgement or anger, just curiosity. Hope pauses and bites her lip again.

“You are so pretty, when I saw you and I couldn't stop myself from drawing you, and instead of asking you I just started sketching like a creep.” Josie’s mouth drops open a little bit at Hope’s words. She quickly gets control over her expression and schools her features as Hope watches.

“Well, Hope Mikaelson, when I first saw you, I wouldn’t leave my sister alone about the beautiful women at the coffee shop who I couldn't get out of my head for a week. I actually stole a few pics of you when you were really focused on your drawing.” Josie gives a shy smile as she tucks a strand of her hair behind her ear.

Hope is startled for a moment before she smiles as well and matches Josie’s shy demeanor.

“Can I have your number?” Hope blurts out without thinking.

Josie laughs so beautifully and nods her head as she reaches for her phone to hand to Hope.

“Can I take you on a date?” She asks earnestly as she puts her number into Josie’s phone.

“I’d love that. Maybe if you play your card right you can paint me like one of your French girls.” Josie blushes a glorious shade of red as she says it, causing Hope to release a short laugh as well. She trails her gaze up and down Josie’s body, enjoying the blush on her face.

“I will definitely take you up on that offer.”

Josie blushes harder and looks away, a smile still on her lips.


End file.
